blue roses in the sand
by fox-anbu8907
Summary: after her parents were killed by gaara of the sand mizuki leaves the sand village no longer wanting to be a burden to those around her. little did she know who was about to find her and how her story was about to play out.
1. leaving the village

Prologue-  
Mizuki was only fourteen years old when her mother and father were murdered.  
The one who killed them was none other than Gaara of the Sand Village.  
It was hard enough for her to find out about her parents death, but it had been ever harder to learn that the killer just happened to be the man that she loved.  
Being the most traumatic thing to ever happen to her in her life, the knowledge made her feel useless, and gave her the feeling that there was nothing left for her if she continued her life in the Sand Village. She had decided that that the best thing she could do for herself and her family, would be to run away from the village, and the remaining members of her family that still resided there. She did not want to be a burden to those around her that she loved.  
As soon as the village had gained knowledge of her departure, they assumed that given the circumstances, she would never be returning. At the age of fourteen, Mizuki had been labeled as an official rogue ninja.

Chapter one-  
Wandering through the endless expanse of sand, Mizuki felt like she was getting nowhere. The fierce sun beating down mercilessly on her body, the hot desert wind whipping strands of her light brown hair across her face, the throbbing pain in her legs from walking for days on end, and the feeling of emotional pain that felt as if a ten pound weight had settled over her shoulders only magnified the feeling.  
"How long until I get there, " she questioned herself. "This is ridiculous. I've been walking for days in this god-forsaken sand, and worst of all I'm almost out of water." She continued talking to herself, which seemed to be her only company these days except for the occasional scorpion or sand snake that she would see crawl or slither near her, then pass by uninterestedly to continue on with their own life in the sand.  
She continued to trudge on for hours in the sand until the scorching sun finally began to sink in the sky, the ball of fire descending upon the horizon and casting the ground in shadows. Welcoming a break from the blazing light, she decided to stop and set up camp for the night. Soon after, she had rolled out her bed and flopped down onto the only softness that she had known in the seemingly never-ending sand. Sighing and letting her tired body relax she looked up at the stars. The large starch of dark sky made star gazing especially beautiful, which seemed to be the only small up side of the desert.  
"The stars seem to be brighter tonight, " she mumbled. "They're so beautiful." It was not long after that that she finally slipped into unconsciousness.

The next morning-  
As Mizuki felt the first rays of warm sunlight hit her face she awoke, and soon after she was up and walking in the sands again. For some strange reason, she could not shake the feeling that today was different, and somehow knew that her wandering might actually lead her somewhere today. She had little knowledge that her premonition was very correct.  
After about an hour or so of walking across the hot sands, she saw a break in the endless tan and brown landscape, seeming like a mirage a few miles away, yet as she drew closer the scenery continued to change. The sand altered into a forest, stretching out in front of her, still seeming a far way away but it was tangible and it was there.  
"Finally, something other than sand!" she sighed. "Maybe there'll be a river so I can finally take a bath and get something to drink." Sulking a bit she continued walking, the sand under her feet changing and turning into hard earth until at last she reached the edge of the forest. Peering into the darkness of the cool shadows, she decided it looked safe enough to enter, even though she was still anxious as she walked on.  
She soon found that the forest was much more vast and confusing then the sea of sand that she just walked though. 'At least I'll be able to mark my way easily and not get lost,' she thought. She had been wandering through the forest for a while until something caught her off guard.  
"Girl, come here," a voice sounded through the trees. Mizuki froze at the sound of the voice. It sounded like an old man. She slowly turned her head to look around her, scanning the thicket of vegetation around her but only seeing the endless shadows.  
"W-who's there? Show yourself!" Mizuki stammered, trying to sound tougher than she felt. Silently Mizuki grabbed one of her kunai, pulling it out and guarding herself as she switched into a defensive stance.  
"What a funny girl you are," she heard, the voice accompanied with a dry almost papery laugh. "Now come and I will help you" the eerie voice commanded her.  
"I-I don't need any help. I'm fine; I'm just passing through... uh…sir?" Mizuki guessed, starting to look frantically around her. Suddenly out of nowhere, a shriveled, ancient looking old man walked out of the shadows.  
"You look lost. I can show you the way if you wish," he said calmly waving at her to follow him as he turned to begin walking away.  
"Where are you taking me?" she asked, a bit worried about where the strange man was leading her.  
"You shall see very soon," he replied.  
Mizuki stayed silent and followed a short distance behind him. Soon they came to an open valley. The old man stopped and pointed down into the valley.  
"Go. There's a house directly ahead down in the valley. That is where you must go, " the man said smiling. Mizuki turned to look down at creepy looking valley, and then looking back to face the old man, surprised when she found that he was gone.  
Though it did not seem like a good idea, she ventured on and after about ten minutes of walking she finally saw the house. It was like a small one story house, with automatic doors, which seemed to be a bit odd and out of place to her. Making her way towards the door, she hesitantly walked in.  
The house was deserted, and seemed as though it had been devoid of any life for a long time, and the inside was filled with endless halls ways and locked doors. It was a while until she realized that this was just a trap. She realized that she had been caught in a genjutsu. Collapsing to the ground as though someone had knocked her out, she quickly faded from consciousness.  
A few hours later-  
Mizuki was finally waking up. Looking around, she found herself in a cement room, which contained nothing but grey walls, a door that she assumed would be locked if she tested it, and the hard bed she was sitting on.  
"Where am I? " she asked aloud, scanning around the dim room hoping for someone to answer, though she knew no one would. All she could do was sit and wait.  
Soon after waking up, she heard approaching foot steps. They echoed around her in the room until they paused outside of the door. A moment later a sound like a key in a lock clicked in her ears. The door slowly swung open, casting a shat of light across the floor, as a man in a long black cloak spotted with red clouds walked in.  
"Who are you?" Mizuki asked trying to stay calm and keep her voice from shaking.  
"That's none of your business, what are you doing here? " the man questioned.  
"I don't know some old guy told me to come here."  
He looked down uninterestingly at her. "Do you really just follow old men around? " he chastised her.  
"Well, it's not as if I had any other choice. I had no where else to go and no clue where I was, " she said crossing her arms across her chest and sticking up her nose.  
Without a word, he turned and left the room.  
"Hey," she cried. "Wait! Where are you going? "

In another room-  
"She's strong, but she is stubborn. What should we do with her leader? " The unknown man asked.  
"We will keep her and train her to be one of use. It's not like she has any other options," the other man said with no emotion.

_

well this is the end i hope you all liked it.

special thanks to my beta reader yaoiwriter422 who looked over all this and made it even better ~!


	2. welcome to the akatsuki

Chapter 2- welcome to the Akatsuki

~about two days after Mizuki is captured~

"This is inhumane! You can't keep me in here! I deserve an explanation!" Mizuki cried as she pounded her fists on the door, soon giving up as the pain in her hands became too much to ignore. Sliding to the ground, she swallowed hard, feeling on the verge of bursting into tears. "You're a monster," she said softly.  
"Would you calm down girl," said a voice that seemed to come out of the air around her. Snapping her head up, she looked in the direction of the voice. The voice seemed to float out of am ominous looking shadowy figure that she could see right through.  
"I demand to know where this is and who I'm talking to!" she said quickly standing back up in a huff and stomping her foot.  
"You are in my hideout. I will not tell you the location at this moment, for it is on a need to know basis only. And as for who I am, you may just refer to me as the leader,"  
"Why would I call you that? You're not my leader. No one is. And why did you lock me up here anyway?!" she cried, starting to feel slightly frantic at the lack of information.  
"You're here because you a rogue ninja. And a powerful one at that," the shadow figure replied.  
"What does that have to do with anything?"  
"My organization consists of powerful rogue ninjas from all countries who by their own choice joined, no longer have homes and need a place to stay, which just happens to be here. We are very interested in your potential."  
"My potential?" she questioned. "What potential? How did you even know that I'm a rogue ninja?" she was a curious as to where the man had obtained this information, as it had not been very long since she had left her village, and she was sure that word of her desertion would not have spread this fast to other countries.  
"I have an associates stationed in each village who watch everyone with aspiring potential such as yourself, and many others. But most of the time, the people will come to me instead of myself going to them. Accept you. You were a special case."  
"So you've been spying on me?" she asked a bit offended and disbelieving that someone had been watching her without her knowledge.  
"You could say that."  
"So, what do you want from me?"  
"I want you to join my organization. Though, either way, it's not really your choice. It'll just be easier if you agree now then having me force you to," he said in a harsh, threatening voice.  
Thinking it over for a second she asked in a quiet voice, "Are you the… the Akatsuki?" It was her first guess because it was the only organization of rogue ninja that she had ever heard of.  
"You have heard of us then?" the shadow asked, though he did not sound very surprised.  
"Yes, and I know what your group does. You hurt innocent people just for the fun of it! And I don't want any part of it!" she cried, though she had only heard some rumors in her lifetime about them, she could only guess that that was what their group did.  
"You've got it all wrong. Our mission is to collect the bijuu, and use their unlimited powers to make the world a better place," the voice said, though just by listening to the voice, you could tell that whoever the owner of it was, he was smirking. This automatically made her think of Gaara, making anger start to boil up inside her chest. Thinking to herself how he was the reason she had left in the first place, and that maybe if she joined them she would be able to avenge her parent's death. Not giving a second thought, she answered. "Alright I'll join you. What do I have to do?" she asked, feeling as if she were ready for whatever they had in store for her.  
"That a girl. Now rest. Tomorrow you will start you life here," the voice said in a sly way before the shadow disappeared into thin air.  
"What have you gotten yourself into Mizuki?" she questioned herself, sitting back on the bed and holding her head in her hands.

~the next day~

"Everyone report to the meeting room," said a voice over the intercom.  
"Hmm?" Mizuki moaned, opening one eye as she woke from another uncomfortable sleep, surprised when she saw a new pair of clothes sitting out on the end of her bed, for her just in front of her open eyes. Quickly getting up, she changed into the clothes. They all fit perfectly, except for the black and red cloak that hung off her shoulders loosely almost falling off her onto the ground. "I guess this is one of the perks of joining the Akatsuki," she joked to herself.

Looking over at the door, she felt that maybe today it would actually be open and to her surprise, after testing it, it was. Deciding that this would be a good chance to look around, she began to twist the knob, remembering the message that she had just heard over the intercom, and thought, 'What if this had to do with me joining the Akatsuki?' "Well, it's not like I know where this "meeting room" is, so I might as well have a look around." Quickly she turned the doorknob, walking out. The second she walked out she ran into something solid. No. it wasn't something, it was someone.  
Slowly she looked up. "I'm sorry I didn't mea-" she stopped, taking a closer look at who she just ran into. She realized that it was the man that was in her room the day before. "YOU!" she exclaimed as she stuck out her finger and pointed it at him, only getting a cold stare back. "Uh…I mean…what are you doing here?" she said with a little laugh.  
"Where do you think your going?" he asked coldly.  
"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm going to that meeting… thingy," she said, not so sure about what she was talking about.  
"That meet has nothing to do with," he said coldly. "Just go back to your room."  
"How do you know? and if it has to do with the Akatsuki, members I should be able to go as well, since I just happen to be a member now."  
"You? You're actually a member? That makes me laugh. You think just because you have a cloak now, that you're a member? You're nothing unless you prove yourself in a fight against one of us."  
"Why do I have to prove myself by fighting one of you guys? That doesn't make any sense," she asked, crossing her arms. She only looked at him waiting for a response, though she did not get one. He only ignored her and turned to walk away.  
"Whatever. I don't care! Just walk away, humph." She decided that all she could do was follow him, since she had no clue where the hallway would lead her, and with her luck, it would probably lead her into another genjutsu, just as it had before. So keeping a distance between him and herself, she followed a short distance behind him until they reached another room. With no hesitation, he walked in, shutting the door behind him.  
"You know, what if he's right and I shouldn't be in there? … maybe I can play it safe and just listen out here," she said to herself, deciding to sit outside of the door, listening to the distance voices in the room. Putting her ear up to the door, she crouched on ground. 'I can't hear anything,' she thought. Just as she thought that, the door clicked. Jumping back, she looked up at the door, a bit scared of who might be coming out of it.  
"Are you coming in or what?" asked the same man that she had followed a few minutes ago, annoyance clearly evident in his voice.  
"Oh, yeah!" she said, a bit surprised that he was asking her to come in, since he had only just told her to stay in her own room. 'Why does everything have to be so confusing?' she thought as she got up and followed him into the room.  
"Mizuki how nice of you to join us," she heard a new voice say from across the room. "Everyone, this is Mizuki. She's the new member I was telling you about." The voice came from an orange haired man, with piercing all over his face.  
Looking at her were nine others, all sitting in chairs with identical expressions of loathing on their faces. She hoped it was not because she was there.  
"Please sit," the man offered, gesturing to her the chair next to him. She obliged, sitting down, feeling a bit out of place and nervous.  
"Now," the man said, "let me introduce you to everyone starting from left to right. Itachi, you've met already I assume. Next we have Kisame, Hidan, Kakazu, Zetsu, Sasori, Deidara, Tobi, and lastly Konan. You will be staying with her until we can get you a room."  
"It's nice to meet you all," she said getting up and bowing, a bit unsure of what she should say or do at this point. They all just stared at her, none seeming to show the slightest bit interested with anything she had to say.

-After the meeting-

"Oh god, that was embarrassing," she said to herself after she left the meeting room, thinking that she was alone. "I've never felt more like a fool before in my whole life."  
"I thought you did fine. You sat there and were quite for the most part. I think we'd all prefer that you continue being quite."  
"Huh!?" she gasped, turning around quickly. She realized that the other girl had followed her the whole time since she had left the meeting room… Konan. "Oh, you're Konan right? It was nice to meet you," she said trying to be polite.  
"Yes. I'm sure. I will show you your room. I'd also suggest that you don't wander too far." Just as she had before, she showed no emotion, wearing a mask of coldness that seemed to match every one that Mizuki had met so far at the Akatsuki base.  
"Alright," Mizuki agreed, following Konan to her temporary room. After a few minutes they finally arrived, there after walking through many twist and turns of the confusing hallway. She looked at the door, which was different from the others that she had seen. It was a Japanese style rice paper door, framed with bamboo wood. Sliding the door open, Konan lead her inside.  
"That is your bed for now," Konan said, pointing to a cot in one of the corners. "And if you don't want any trouble, do not mess with anything of my things." She said this harshly as she left the room leaving a somewhat tense presence in the air.  
"Nice to meet you too," Mizuki said to the empty room. "People here really need to get out more. None of them have any manners what so ever." Sitting down on her new "bed" she took a closer look around at her surroundings, observing all the origami and paper that dangled from the ceiling around the room. 'She must really like origami. She seems to be very talented at it by the looks of it,' she thought, taking a few more seconds to look at them all. She had to stop herself from even daring to touch one and decided to leave before she did touch one, also she had nothing to unpack. "Time to explore!" she said with a grin, walking out of the room and sliding the door shut behind her.  
Wandering through the halls once again, she found nothing of interest besides the occasional painting or locked door. Everything seemed to be the same.  
With no one besides herself walking in the hall, she couldn't help but wonder where they had all disappeared to. As she approached the end of the hallway, she could see that at the end there was a door.  
She grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it opened. Looking through the frame, she was surprised to see that it lead outside. Looking out onto what looked like a type of training ground, she saw two men that she recognized from the meeting. She tried to remember their names. 'Deidara and Kisame?' she wondered.  
They were sparing by the looks of it. Quietly, she slid out through the door and sat against the wall of the hideout. She watched in amazement as small bombs flew from the blond man, exploding where they landed with a crack and spray of dirt, and Kisame's huge sword falling down with such great force that it made the earth shake and crack underneath it. She could feel some of her own energy being pulled into it and wondered just what kind of weapon it was.  
She was in awe at their abilities, and somehow they seemed elegant as the moved across the field as if it was no more than a well-rehearsed dance. If Pain wanted her to have as much skill as these two did, she was going to need a lot of training, and knew there was going to be a lot of hard work down the road for her. She continued to watch their fight with fascination until the sun began to set a few hours later.  
"That's enough. I don't think I can go on much longer," Deidara said, panting from all the work and running around that he had done.  
"Yeah. Same here. I'm starving. I wonder if foods done yet," Kisame said, thinking with his stomach.  
They both turned to look at Mizuki who was still sitting and staring at the two of them.  
"Hey Kisame. You said you were hungry right?" Deidara said jokingly as he stared down at Mizuki.  
"I said I was hungry, not starving," he scoffed, "and anyway I would never eat something so foul."  
Mizuki just sat, not moving a muscle or paying much attention to their last comments. Silently watching as they walked past her back into the hideout.  
'They may be good fighters, but they're not very friendly. But what do you expect from the Akatsuki?' she thought as she stood back up, brushing herself off. Looking up she stared at the same forest that she been lead through to this place by that strange old man. 'I wonder what ever happened to him. Though he was a bit strange, I hope he's alright on his own out there.' She felt a bit worried for that man, for if it weren't for him she may still be wandering out there all alone. "I guess it's time to head back in," she sighed as she took a final glance behind her and at the forest as she closed the door behind her.

-end of chapter two-


	3. training starts today

i'm sorry i've been gone so long but i'm back now with a new chapter, and since it's finally summer i'll try to write more often, so thanks for reading i hope you enjoy.

Chapter 3 – training starts today

Mizuki walked through the door back into the hideout thinking to herself about how she was going to make it here with everyone hating her as it was. "At least I'm finally starting to understand where all these hallways are going," she said looking up at all the twist and truns of the hallways, "now where is the cafeteria I'm starving," she said rubbing her stomach and looking around for a door that may have lead her to the cafeteria or at least some food, that's when she saw itachi leaning against a open door talking with someone who was inside the room, though she couldn't make out who it was or what they were talking about. She decided to get closer to them to try and make out what was going on. crouching down she slowly got closer soon she could hear them saying something though it was a bit hard to make out, "-you want me to fight the new girl, why should I even waste my time?" said a husky voice that sounded very much like Kisame's said to itachi with a slight hint of distaste.

"I want to prove to our leader that he has made the wrong choice in bringing her here," itachi said sounding a bit overly defensive about the situation.

"I'm sure with some training she'll be up to speed, just give her a chance Itachi she may surprise you, i mean the leader did chose her," he said not to interested in the least. he tried his best to stay out of itachis quarrels, but this time he didn't know if he could, itachi was much more determined about this girl.

"I will give her a chance, in a fight to prove weather or not she can handle it here, though i doubt she'll be able to,"

"What's come over you, you've not been yourself recently maybe you should go rest for awhile," kisame said trying to dodge the subject and just get him to calm down a bit.

"It must be that girl doing this to me messing with my head-" Itachi said as his face cringed and covering one of his eyes with his hand, "my head-"

"Well if it's not Mizuki, you wouldn't happen to be snooping around would you?" pein whispered to her crouching against the wall behind her.

"huh?" she jumped from shock to hear his voice and quickly turned around, "oh, um no of course not I was just looking for the cafeteria is all," she said laughing a bit embarrassed to be caught like this.

Casually he got up, "good, I'll show you the way, that's also where I was heading, so we can go together," he said feeling pleased with himself.

"Oh alright, thank you" she said still a bit worried wondering if he knew what they were talking about or if he even cared for that matter, following him closely as they walked past the two who had stopped talking and just looked at her silently as they both passed by.

Once they had turned a corner and were no longer in sight, Pein spoke once again, "I've decided that you will take the spot of a member that has long since, passed" he said causally as he walked ahead of her.

"You mean a dead guy?" Mizuki said being totally oblivious.

"no i wouldn't exactly say that, he left the akatsuki a few years ago, but you will be taking his spot so you'll be needing this," he said reaching into one of his pant pockets and pulled out a ring, "you will wear this ring on your left pinky finger," just as he said as he handed it to her, she put it on, extending her arm out to look at it feeling a bit awkward wearing it.

"Here we are," Pein said opening the door and holding it for Mizuki to walk in.

"oh thank you," she said respectfully as she walked in looking around at the average looking tables, and the small appliances that would probably be found in someone's apartment not what you'd think to see in a hide out as big as this one, along with all the people that lived there, "hey, Pein why is the kitchen so small, if this is such a big place?" she asked feeling a bit curious as she looked around.

"Well you see Mizuki, this isn't really our hideout so there's no need to spend money on electronics we won't be using, but we can talk about that later," he said avoiding the topic.

that last comment made her even more curious, she couldn't stop herself from thinking, she now wanted to know more, like where she really was if this wasn't their real hideout, where the real hideout was, who's ring she had, and just to many other questions that she wanted answered not knowing weather or not they would be any time soon or at all, "so will I ever get any of my questions answered?" she asked in a low yet audible voice as she narrowed her eyes towards him waiting for a response.

"Well if I have an answer for them, I will try to answer to the best of my abilities," he said as he grabbed something from a small cabinet above the sink and put it on the counter.

"Alright, well how bout why you wanted me I'm sure there's others more powerful then I am," she said degrading herself and her abilities.

"… There's a reason behind everything I do, you will understand soon why I choose you and your abilities though you may not realize how special you are just yet," he said not really answering her question at all but dodging it, "next question," he said before she could speak and waited to hear what else she had to say.

Thinking over her next question she looked down at the ring she was wearing, "who had this ring before me?" she asked him as she sat down on one of the chairs.

"That's not important he'll have nothing to do with us or our mission," he said not sounding too pleased with the mentioning of the rings previous owner.

obviously she wasn't going to get an answer to that question either, so she went on to her next one,"What is mission?" she asked a bit irritated by the way he'd been avoiding answering her questions.

"Didn't I already tell you this?" he asked raising one eyebrow.

"Yes well I'd like to hear it again, my mind wasn't that clear the first time I heard it,"

"alright then i'll tell you once more, our mission is to make this world better for people like us only trying to survive in this horrid world, by collecting the nine jinjuriki and take their power for our own," he said starting to trail off into a world domination rant.

"Oh yeah that's very interesting, so what cha' making there?" she asked trying to avoid hearing his ranting, trying to look over him to see what he had been stirring up.

"Ramen," he said simply as he stirred the noodles in the pot.

"Are you really? Just ramen that's so simple," she said a bit fascinated that, that's what he had been making this whole time and not something more creative, then again he was the leader of this famous akatsuki group so his cooking abilities may not have been the best, since he'd probably spend most of his time planning his "world domination".

"Well it's all we have right now; with everyone here it's hard to keep stocked on the good stuff,"

"I see your point there, do you even have time to shop? You must all be training all day long am I right and going on missions and what not?" getting up she walked beside him and looked over his shoulder at the pot of boiling water and noodles.

"You may not know this but there's a town just a bit north from here that's where we get all the food and supplies from... at least while were staying here-"

'why is he telling me so much, it's not like he actually trust me, what if this is a test, to see weather or not I run for this "town" he's telling me about' she thought to herself trailing away from his voice for a few seconds before coming back to reality.

"-and that's how we keep travelers from seeing our base besides you of course somehow you found us just as I'd hoped," he said as he grabbed some bowls from the drying rack beside the sink and pouring the ramen into the bowls.

"Wait what?" she asked totally oblivious to what he'd said because of her spacing off and hadn't caught the last few things he had been saying to her.

"Ramens done have a seat," he said bringing two bowls over to the table and setting them down.

"Alright," she said as she sat on the opposite side or the table from him and slowly started to stir the ramen around in the bowl, "well it looks alright... for ramen," she said as she started to take a bite.

"So you plan on staying with us don't you Mizuki?" pein said looking up at her his eyes seemed to pierce right through her when he said those words.

"Well yes like you said I really don't have a choice now do i," she said looking down at the bowl of noodles feeling a slight bit of anger stir up inside her, "besides that I really have no where else to go," she said thinking about how she'd left her home, to get away though she couldn't rember why it seemed foggy to her like a dream.

"And you know while your here your going to go through a lot of training, are you ready for that?" he asked sounding a bit more serious then usual.

"Yes I am, I told you this already, but who am I going to train with, I mean no one here really gets along with me at all," she said sounding as though she were ready to train at that very moment or at least ready to punch something.

"You will train with who ever is available at the time… but for now you'll be training with Itachi," he said plainly as he looked at her face for her reaction.

"Your kidding right, that guy hate's me, if I train with him he'd kill me for sure!" she exclaimed as she shot up for the table slamming her palms down against it making the whole table shake.

"As you yourself said you don't really have a choice in the matter, and if you want to get the most out of it you should probably prepare yourself for a good workout," he said calmly with a smirk across his face.

"I'm suddenly not feeling so hungry, if you'd excuse me, I think I'm going to go to bed now," she said moving away from the table and pushing her chair in.

"Sleep well tonight Mizuki, it may be your last," Pein said in an eerie voice as she walked out of the room.

"Uh, yeah right I will thanks," she said feeling more nervous then ever as well as being creeped out by Pein. That was the first time he'd truly creeped her out like that. maybe he wasn't as pleasant as she had thought previously.

Slowly she made her way down the halls to the ever familiar sliding doors. 'Alright I have to be quite, who knows what she'll do to me if I wake her up at this hour,' she thought to herself as she slid open the door slowly and peeked in to see Konan asleep in her bed, Not at all phased by mizuki's entering. She slowly made her way over to her bed laying down she thought to herself 'Well at least she didn't wake up, now I should sleep and maybe then I can somehow prepare myself mentally for tomorrow,' she said feeling worried for what was in store for her as she stared at the ceiling that was filled with origami butterflies whose shadows seemed to dance along the wall and slowly mizuki drifted into a deep sleep.

-_Dream_-

_Mizuki finds herself standing alone in a dark street, looking around she sees the only darkness and a lot of fog surrounding her, with the only source of light coming from a lamp post about half a block away. There were silhouettes that looked to be two children standing under it face to face. Walking closer she was able to make out the figures. Giving herself another second to look at them she realized it wasn't just any pair of children it was her as a young girl and … gaara. She didn't believe it at first so she decided to get closer. She could see what they were doing now. Her younger self was handing something out to him. It seemed to be a rose, blue rose, the same she had given him many years ago as a present. Then something crimson dropped onto it splashing from petal to petal. Looking up at him she noticed blood was dripping from a scar on gaaras forehead which seemed to be newly carved. Though she couldn't remember how he'd gotten it or why she felt so angry for seeing him like this. Walking closer to them it seemed as though they were only getting farther and farther away now. So she started running, hoping that she would get closer to them. But nothing happened soon enough they disappeared and she was all alone once again. Falling to her knees surrounded in darkness there was nothing more she could do but sit there in the dark-_

_Alone. _

~the next morning~

"Hey, wake up!" Mizuki heard a ever familiar voice coming from above her as she was laying in her bed asleep. Mizuki only turned away from her hoping she'd go away. But to no prevail, all that came was more yelling, "Get up before I'm forced to hurt you," Konan said with a slight growl coming from within her throat.

Giving it a second thought she decided it would be a much better idea to get up before she actually was hurt, "alright I'm up," she said sounding more asleep then awake, "what do you want?" she asked sounding more irritated then she would have hoped.

"What do you mean, what do I want? You have training or have you forgotten?" she said sounding about ready to tear her up.

"Oh, yeah," she said a bit unsure when this conversation took place, "I must have forgotten," she said laughing to herself, but only receiving a cold glare back.

"Just get dressed, quickly," she said only wanting to get this all over with so she could attend to more pressing matters of her own.

"Alright, alright I'm going no need to be so pushy," she said throwing the covers away from her and grabbing her cloths. Walking into the bathroom she changed into a new pair of black capris and black shirt with a mesh shirt under it along with mesh leggings, and put her hair up after thoroughly brushing out all the tangles out. "Alright I'm ready," she said walking out of the bathroom and grabbing her cloak and a pair of sandals.

"Fine, hurry up lets go," she said coldly and grabbed her own cloak, sliding the door open and walked out. Mizuki followed shortly behind her though not getting to close for fear of her own safety.

They made their way down the hallways till they got to a door that had been locked, but Konan was able to open it by removing some seal that had been put on it. The stairs lead them downward, at first when they had entered it was pitch black but after a few minutes of walking down the stairs she was able to see a light glowing from the bottom. Soon after walking the rest of the way down, they were in a large room with many different terrains. Konan lead her to a grassy plain where Itachi was waiting for her along with Kisame who was off to the side. There were others all around them on the tall rocks and sitting in the grass who had seemed to be waiting for her arrival. Though she didn't see Pein anywhere down there with them this made her worry a bit. She tried her best to stay silent waiting to see what they had to say to her or at least what they had planed to do.

"It's nice of you to join us Mizuki," Itachi said with a slight smirk on his face.

"Yeah, yeah enough talk are we here to train or what?" she said obviously not wanting to waste anymore time and trying not to show any weakness.

"Well of course we are, though I may be a bit too much for you to handle," he said sounding a bit coincided for his own good as he looked over at her from across the field.

"I'll be just fine you should worry more for yourself," she said as she positioned herself into a fighting stance getting ready for him.

-well that's the end of this chapter hope you all liked it...-


	4. the fight

"Alright let's get this started!" Mizuki yelled to him with more confidence in her voice then she had, had in a long time.

"Let's," he said simply and disappeared with nothing left, but some smoke. He reappeared in front on her with a kunai in hand and aimed towards her throat.

Dodging it she made a barrel roll to her right, she was on her hands and knees trying to get her balance back. Before she knew it he was back in front of her. His emotion didn't seem to change it was so calm and dare I say peaceful for him. It seemed like he was born to fight. Getting to her feet she dodged it again, 'damn it! I can't just keep dodging like this,' she yelled to herself in her mind as she jumped back a few more feet.

Quickly she searched for something useful she could use against him. Going threw her pouch with one hand she kept her eyes locked on him, as he watched her from afar.

Finally she found a throwing star. Gripping it between her fingers, she pulled it out and threw it towards him with as much strength as she could gather up.

Simply he moved out of it's way, she could hear him laughing softly, "you'll need to think of something much better then that if you plan on defeating me," he sounded as if he were much superior then her at this point, which pissed her off even more then she already was. But he was right, she'd need to do something better then this, but she had nothing else and she wasn't planning on using her secret move it was to unstable to use here, against him, her teammate.

'I'll just have to fight with my fists, since I don have anything else,' she said to herself getting ready to charge him. Suddenly she was gone, same as Itachi; they both attacked each other at the same time. Her fist made contact with him, as did his kunai, which cut a huge gash in her arm. Backing away she grabbed the wound on her arm which was bleed with no intention of stopping. The blood dripped on the ground below, she raised her eyes, glaring up at him she was more determined then ever to beat the shit out of him now. Letting go of her arm she started to make quick hand signs ignoring the pain in her arm. Itachi looked at her with an expression on his face that seemed to question what she was doing. The ground under him started to give way and was sucking him in with it. Hopping backwards he tried to get out of it but no matter how far he went it followed him, it was determined to drag him down. He managed to get to a large pile of rocks that were smashed from the wall, from one of the earlier fights. He perched on top of them, looking down at Mizuki with a cold glare. Then he took a quick look around at his surroundings, he was plotting something but what. Then he smirked down at her, as if she were some foolish child.

Mizuki didn't know what he was plotting and that bothered her. Still locked on him, she kept staring waiting to see what was going to happen next. Itachi rose his gaze looked at her for a few seconds and then almost instantly he was right in front of her. Slamming her against a near by wall, he looked down at her and locked his cold grey eyes on her. Then they started to change, she gasped as they went from pure black and cold to crimson red, as well with his eye color changing his pupils started to morph and making black commas. They started to spin, she seemed too pulled into his crimson red eyes; she was unable to look away. Then her surrounding started to spin and she felt herself being pulled in and out of consciousness. The last thing she heard was the soft voice of Itachi's whispering in her ear, "I have you right where I want you," Then everything went black, waking up she found herself staring up at a red moon the black clouds that moved rapidly around in circles in the crimson sky. Taking a closer look at her surroundings she noticed that she'd been strapped to a large T shaped stake that was planted in to the ground. Looking around she saw more of them scattered around her for miles and miles. There where other's strapped to them who looked just like her, like clones of herself. Frantically she tried to get herself lose, moving her hands and legs forcefully trying to loosen the straps, but nothing seemed to work. She soon gave up. Her eyes open and looked up to see Itachi standing in front of her holding an unsheathed kantana in his right hand. Looking from it to him she only expected the worse from the situation she was in, along with the fact she knew his intentions to harm her where more of a need to kill.

"I will stab you with this sword for 72 hours," he said coldly as his lifted up his arm and pointed the kantana straight at her. All she could think was, 'is he serious? This cant be for real!' those where her thoughts until he stabbed her in the abdomen sending pain shooting threw out her body. Looking down at the blood that started to flow out of the gash in her stomach making Mizuki's eyes started to water as tears started to make their way down her checks. She screamed for hours and hour, till her voice was all but gone. All she could do was cry, till she passed out.

What seemed like hours later, Mizuki found herself waking up on the ground of the arena. Groaning she tried getting back to her feet. She could still feel the pain of all the swords stabbing her at once. But there were no wounds, her body that was just stabbed multiply times, was perfectly clean of any kinds of wounds except for the one on her arm. Tears were still coming out, she wiped them away.

"Pathetic just like I thought, you're weak!" Itachi spat down at her.

"I'm not…" she said her voice low and shaking as she tried to get on one knee.

"oh yeah well get up and fight!" he yelled down to her trembling form.

Breathing heavily Mizuki raised her hand which was still shaking and slowly moved it towards Itachi. Then in a split second with no hand signs or words, vines started to grow from out of no where and quickly wrapped around Itachi's legs crawling there way up his torso to his neck getting tighter every second. Shocked by this, he'd dropped the kunai, and looked over at Mizuki who started to stand up.

"w-what's going on what are you doing!" he questioned franticly as he tried to tear himself away from the vines that were slowly tightening around his neck.

"You think I'm so weak do you?" She asked standing on both her legs and holding herself up on a near by boulder, "you think you know everything about me? You think I'm just a little girl? Well your wrong I can handle myself just fine, and I can also take you down!" she glared at him eyes filled with rage, "how do you like it having your life slip away?" she said the vines growing dangerously tight around his throat.

He could no longer talk he could only make slight choking sounds. His gaze tightened as he looked down at her, the woman who he'd thought wasn't cable of anything. Now she was the one making him look weak and pathetic.

"Mizuki stop I think you proved yourself," Pein asked to her as he rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Pein? What are you doing here?" she asked a bit surprised she was sure he wasn't there before.

"Stopping you from doing something you'll regret," his expressions seem more serious then it usually was when around her.

Mizuki lowered her arm as the veins slowly fell to the ground freeing Itachi from their grasp. He got to his feet catching his breath. His eyes slowly looked up at the two of them talking to one another. Turning around he started to walk away.

"Itachi!" Pein shouted at him, "What do you think you were doing?"

"I was just… she didn't seem like she should be here," he said voice low now sounding as though he had regretted the whole fight.

"The decision of her being here was mine alone not yours or anyone else's for that matter, maybe someday you'll understand how to trust your leader," he said his voice was cold and irritated.

"tch," Itachi scoffed at the two of them, turning around sharply around he left, rubbing his neck, which was red from the vines.

"Alright, everyone! There's a meeting right now in the main room," he shouted for all those around to hear, "and you all better be there!" he then disappeared into smoke.

Mizuki could hear a few groans coming from the crowd. She just ignored it and headed for the same stairs she'd come down from. Trying to ignore all of them, along with the mumbles coming from them that must have been about her.

"Hey, you alright, Itachi sure can get out of hand sometimes," Kisame said coming up beside her.

"I'm fine, and I don't need your sympathy," she said trying to get further ahead from him.

"I'm just saying it wasn't right he shouldn't have done that, I tried to tell him it wasn't a good idea" he said staying with her pace.

"What do you care, your probably the same way!" she shouted at him.

"Not to team mates, it just hasn't sunk in to him your one of us now and nothings going to change that, for now anyway,"

"Yeah, I know that, thanks for reminding me," she said a bit iterated.

"Hey you'll do just fine, if Pein sees something in you I'm sure he's right and you'll be fine," he said as he walked past her and up the dark stair case slowly his steps seemed to fade away.

'What a weird fish guy,' Mizuki thought to herself and she made her way up the stairs.

Finally out of the long stair case she made it back to the halls. Looking around she remembered the first time there was a meeting and thought maybe that was where she had to go. Making her way down the halls she found the same doors she'd been to before at the last meeting, opening the door she walked in to see everyone already seated around the large table, she joined them sitting in one of the seats next to Pein.

"Alright now that we're all here, I have some news; we're heading back to the hide out,"

Everyone seemed to be relieved at the news he'd just given all of them. Though Mizuki didn't know what to feel, whatever she was told to feel, did she even get a choice on how to feel anymore. Though she had felt a bit excited being able to go to the real hideout, she wondered what it'd be like. Through out the rest of the meeting she didn't really listen in, only hearing the occasional talk of money and expenses or basic needs like food and water. Then there was the talk of missions and beasts and some boy, just looking at everyone's expression she could tell they felt hatred for him, nine-tails, or at least that's what they called him. Finally they were all told they could leave, which every one gladly did.

Getting up Mizuki headed for the door mind still spinning with the thought of leaving this hideout and going to a bigger and better one or so she had thought, not to sure what to expect once they all left. It also made her wonder how they'd get there, and how long it'd take, how they would all not get noticed, a group of blacked cloaked figures just passing threw I doubt anyone would over look it.

"Mizuki," Pein called out to her from the end of the table right before she was out the door, "I want to talk to you."

"Yes?" she asked turning back around.

"I don't want you using your powers anymore," he said still serious.

"I-I really didn't mean to it was an accident, I kind of just snapped," looking down she felt ashamed of what she'd done.

"It's fine," he said placing a hand on her shoulder, "I'd just rather you not do it from now on," he lead her to the door. "Now you should and get ready it's going to be a long day tomorrow," he shut the door behind her.

Walking down the hall she started to talk to herself, "get ready, ready for what? All I have is this cloak not much to pack, I guess I could sleep the rest of the day," she thought about it, and decided against it if konan saw her it just wouldn't be good, she just felt like dieing, "I'm sure everyone hates me now, I try to stay in the shadows and what happens, I almost kill a guy, geez," she said making her way to the door that lead outside to the back where she'd first seen Deidara and Kisame sparing. Opening it she looked around seeing that damn forest again. If only she'd gone a different way then threw there she would have never ended up here. Though it's too late now to look back on what could have happened.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" A voice came from behind the door. Closing it she looked down to see Kisame sitting holding a bottle of sake.

"You drink?" she asked still looking down at the bottle.

"it's going to waste if I don't," he said taking another drink, "we're all leaving tomorrow you know, seems like just yesterday we got here,"

Sitting down next to him she asked, "Why'd you come here in the first place?"

"We came here for you," he said plainly, drinking some more sake.

"Me? What do you mean me?" she was shocked, not knowing what to think at what he'd just said to her.

"You, we came for you, it was the leader's orders we were to find you all costs, good thing you came to us on your own huh?" he said laughing a bit, "now we don't have to get rough with you."

Looking at him she was shocked, "this was intentional? Was this going to happened weather or not I went somewhere else!"

"Yeah, we would've found you," he said sounding pretty confident in himself and possibly the others.

Looking at him closely Mizuki then thought to herself, 'he's drunk he doesn't know what he's saying, there's no way that could be true, I'm only here because I wanted to be here,'

"You look like you need a drink I have plenty," he said holding out a bottle of sake to her.

Looking at him with a hard gaze, she loosened up and took it, "fine, a sip," she said taking a few sips and then holding on to the bottle. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, the bottle was almost gone.

"I'd take it easy if I were you," he warned her.

Sitting with her knees to her chest she kept drinking, "I don't care!" she said words starting to slur, "I fucking hate it here!" she yelled.

"Yeah, alright," he said thinking maybe offering her sake wasn't the best idea.

"Just some group of emo wannabes!" she shouted throwing the empty bottle aside.

"Right, I think you need to go to sleep, it's getting dark," he said trying to help her up.

"I don't want to go to bed in that damn room, that chicks going to kill me!" she said referring to konan, "I'm just going to stay out here and DRINK!" she said throwing her arms in the arm.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," he said grabbing her arm.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she pulled her arm away, "you're all the same, you all think I'm weak or that you need to protect me! I'm not weak, I do just fine on my own, why'd I ever come here," she said starting to ramble off.

Sitting back down, he sighed looking over at her, "well I'm not leaving you out here alone, not because I want to protect you or anything, just because I don't want you wondering off,"

"Whatever I don't care, do what you want," she said grabbing another sake bottle.

"You ever drink before?" he asked watching her drink more sake, bottle after bottle.

"No, what do you care if I have or haven't because you're a shark, and sharks don know nothing," she said not making much sense.

"So you've never had a hangover, this'll be fun" he said sarcastically as he but his head against the brick wall behind him.

It seemed like hours of babbling to Kisame before Mizuki finally passed out. It was already dark almost two in the morning.

"Finally," he said as he got up off the ground and picked her up. Opening the door he walked threw it, holding Mizuki cradle style threw the darken building. He was pretty sure everyone was asleep by now. If he even thought of taking this drunken mess into konan's room he'd regret it. Then he decided he'd just put her in his room and wait for the inevitable to happen.

Opening the door to his room Kisame placed her on the bed. He took off her shoes and cloak throwing them in a pile next to the bed. Then he sat down in a chair in the corner of his room. Almost falling asleep instantly, a few hours later Mizuki woke up.

Groaning she looked around at the dark room she could barley see anything, "my head hurts so much," she said softly aloud feeling like even the slightest noise would send her threw the roof. Pushing herself up, she could feel she was on a bed, a soft bed, not that cot she'd been placed on for the prior nights she'd been here. "How did I-" she started to ask when she heard something, the sound almost making her jump out of her skin. Looking behind her she saw a dark figure sitting the corner. It was to dark to see anything so she just kept still for a few seconds trying to figure out if it was there to harm her or not. When it didn't move she decided to investigate what it was. Wobbling over barely able to walk, she crouched down to see it was Kisame sleeping in the chair. Thinking it over a second she realized she was in his room. "What did I do, I can't even remember coming here," she whispered softly to herself, face starting to burn up at the thought of what might have happened. Then she started to feel sick, her stomach was turning. The only thought going threw her head was 'TOILET!'

Feeling around the room for a door, she finally came across one. Franticly she opened it; luckily it was a bathroom, a guy's bathroom. Just looking at it made her feel even sicker. Quickly she lifted the lid of the toilet and threw up.

The sounds of her throwing up made their way in to the room. They were loud enough to wake up Kisame, pushing himself off the chair he made his way to the bathroom and looked down at her small figure hovering over the toilet in the dark. Walking over he grabbed her hair and pulled it out of her face, "isn't this fun," he said referring back to his prior comments of waiting for this very moment where she'd be experiencing her first hangover.

Stopping she could only muster out a few words threw the gagging sounds, "fuck you," just as the words came out so did more vomit.

He could only laugh at her. 


End file.
